This week I spent a very worthwhile 4 hours in the above titled workshop. It was hosted by Heidi Spinella, a sustainability consultant, and Bert Cohen, an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire, teaching Sustainable Living and Systems Thinking for Sustainable Living. Heidi is also a PMP so naturally, excuse the pun, my interpretation leaned more toward projects and how a project manager can lead sustainability efforts by using the tools we have available, one focus of our new book. I certainly wasn’t far off, as a matter of fact, I think my interpretation was right-on.
One of the definitions of sustainability used in the workshop is the same Bruntland one we use in the book; “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (United Nations 1987) The workshop was focused on the Natural Step Framework, the framework I believe “frames” the Green Wave. (For more information on the “green wave, please read our book’s introduction.) In a nutshell, and quoting from the workshop, we need to ‘Begin to reduce what we TAKE (from the earth); Begin to reduce what we MAKE (stuff that isn’t biodegradable or recyclable); Begin to increase what we PROTECT (biodiversity); Begin to increase what we RESPECT (human rights).”
Further, following a project’s lifecycle, and using this workshop as an example, sustainability is a project and we must plan, organize and control the effort. And as a final step, make sure that we take into consideration the long term effects of what we are doing, or as McDonough and Braungart say, consider “cradle-to-cradle”.
The workshop’s focus is on using the Natural Step Framework as a “practical approach to strategic planning” for a community’s (any community) efforts to advance sustainability. The example used in the workshop was Portsmouth, New Hampshire, (an eco-municipality) which has made incredible strides in its sustainability efforts. For more information go to their website.
Bottom-line, at least one of the things I took out of it, is that one person, like a small ice ball rolling down a snow cover mountain, can unleash an avalanche of success for a project by getting more and more people involved in the project. That ice ball, no matter what you call it, is a project manager. Using the immense arsenal of skills that project managers possess, will aid in the success of any project. And I will say it again, projects are where ideas meet reality, and the project manager has to be and is the champion of change. Thinking “sustainable” is one of those changes.
« Energy Bill, v2.0: why project managers should care Trendy »
